Unit 14: Social Psychology

social psychology: the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

- Social Influences-Social Thinking-Social Relations

THEORIES-attribution theory: the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.-fundamental attribution error: the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.-cognitive dissonance theory: the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.-scapegoat theory: the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.-social exchange theory: the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

KEY PEOPLEFritz Heider- He proposed the attribution theory, which said that people usually attribute others behavior either to their internal dispositions or to the situation. Robert Baron- Cleverly demonstrated our openness to informational influence on tough, important judgments. Leon Festinger- He proposed the cognitive dissonance theory, which argued that people feel discomfort when their actions conflict with their attitudes.

EXPERIMENTS -Conformity Experiment with Solomon Asch -Conformity is adjusting our behavior or thinking towards some group standard -Found under certain conditions people are more likely to conform-line experiment; when asked a question about which line was closest in size, people were more likely to conform to the group answer as opposed to the obvious correct answer

-Milgram's Conformity and Obedience Experiment- -volunteer were assigned as a teacher and learner and teachers administered different levels of shock -63% complied up until the last shock